The early 1950s were banner years for fantasy comics, and as they proliferated the competition for titles became fierce. Thus a key word like "strange" would spawn a host of variant titles: Strange Worlds, Strange Fantasy, Strange Terrors, etc. Our featured books represent the three most successful - rated by longevity - of the strange brood. Fortunately, strange was not one of the title words banned by the Comics Code Authority for the industry clean-up of 1955, otherwise none of them would have had a chance to endure. These three issues all hail from 1952, the year that fantasy became the best-selling comics genre.

     Strange Adventures was the first entry and went on to claim top honors with a 23-year 244 issue run. It was DC's first science fiction comic and a pioneer title in the genre. The mag was co-edited by Julius Scwartz and Jack Schiff, but Julie soon took over and made it special with his knowledge and love of SF and his literary agent relationship with many fine SF writers. Edmond Hamilton and Gardner Fox - whose names had graced hundreds of fantasy pulps - were the most frequent contributors.

     Strange Adventures #23 (August) comes packaged with a smoothly appealing Murphy Anderson cover. Part of Murphy's mastery of SF imagery was his long education as an SF pulp addict; he knows that BEMs (bug-eyed-monsters) and femmes are a sure mix.

     The first story inside tells of a prehistoric Earth ruled by giant ants and how one ant scientist postulates that the tiny humans (that ruin their picnics) are plotting to take over the world. The humans do stage a revolt, but the ants launch a rocket full of eggs to orbit for 10,000 years in suspended animation then land and hatch. Cosmic rays shrink the giants to ant size, diminishing their destructive power, but still they are out there waging their war... It's clever enough but bears the DC shortcoming of overcomplication and improbability.

     "The Last Woman on Earth" is also somewhat contrived - with aliens sending Earth through a poisonous comet tail to kill off all the people so they can appropriate the planet. While this takes place a male scientist and his romantically inclined but unreciprocated female assistant are down in a bathysphere. After coming up and defeating the invaders advance party and thwarting the interplanetary occupation they vow to do the right thing and become a new "Adam and Eve."

     Then Gardner Fox and John Giunta team up on "The Ghost Planet," where an exploring Earthman finds out what made a planet's population disappear - finds out the hard way... Captain Comet wraps things up in "The Brain Pirates of Planet X," a reasonably well-crafted juvenile space opera. Even well before the Code DC aimed their books at a younger audience.

     Strange Tales is often called the flagship of the Atlas fantasy line; it was their first fantasy title to continue through into the silver sixties. Issue #5 (February) contains four worthwhile stories. Hank Chapman wrote and Joe Maneely drew "The Room Without a Door," a predictable but pleasantly detailed yarn of a man who seeks magic, steals magic, and suffers magic.

     Next up is the nicely imagined "The Little Man Who Was There", which begins during the Korean War when a Yankee soldier shares a trench with a unknown companion during a bomb attack. After the war - back home - he sees the man again and again, and each time it warns him of some imminent disaster. The plot zigs a good zag at the end, and Jim Mooney's art is attractive with a superb splash panel.

     "The Trap" juggles time travel and murder in a psychodrama that works because the reader believes the character's motivations. "My Brother Harry" puts some good spin on the idea of a man who can see and hear ghosts that are undetected by other people. Harry's brother becomes annoyed at Harry's carrying on conversations with their dead mother and causes a scene which inspires his wife to a bold and decisive move that leaves him unseen and unheard - except by....

     Atlas added five fantasy titles to their line-up in the first half of 1952, upping their output in the genre to a dozen mags that offered a wealth of weird fiction illustrated by an amazing variety of artists.

     Strange Suspense Stories #3 (October) has a really good George Evans cover that is ghastly without being gross. Evans drew the lead story inside as well, "Brother Volcano," and all the lava, smoke, and flames make a visual feast. The ending is somewhat saccharine, but getting there is entertaining.

     Fawcett's fantasy titles used a three-story format to advantage; the extra pages allowed the suspense to build... "Port of Terror" utilizes the cover concept of a headless body that "lives" on: Wolf Merique's machete attack decapitates a man who had caught him cheating at cards, and the "shortened" body haunts him - demanding Wolf's head as restitution. The finale is bizarre.

     "Mirrors Tell Tales" is a straightforward story of a crook and murderer who thinks he's escaped the law after plastic surgery gives him a new face. But soon he starts to see his old self in the mirror, and all shiny surfaces threaten to unmask him. It's nothing too startling, but it moves along and packs some punch into the last panel.

     When Fawcett stopped publishing comics they sold their horror titles to Charlton, who kept Strange Suspense Stories going (with a few short gaps) through 1969. The strange titles made an immense contribution to the two decades that produced the vast majority of four-color fantasy comics.

Pat Calhoun has been collecting, researching and appreciating comic books since the early 1960s, and is a nationally recognized comic book historian. Pat resides in Santa Rosa, California.